President Joe Biden’s administration is looking for ways to de-escalate the ongoing Red Sea standoff with Yemen’s Houthi rebel faction and may revoke a terror designation placed against the rebels if they stop attacking commercial shipping going through the waterway.
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, are a Shiite Islamic faction that has intermittently fought with Yemen’s internationally recognized government and its Saudi Arabian allies for years.
While Yemen’s civil war has waned in recent months, the Houthis have turned their attention to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The Yemeni rebel faction has launched attacks targeting shipping through the Red Sea and has insisted these attacks are targeting vessels associated with Israel and its allies in an effort to undermine the Israeli side.
Successive U.S. administrations have wavered back and forth over whether to treat the Houthis as a terrorist organization.
President Donald Trump’s administration designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) and as a specially designated global terrorist entity (SDGT) in January 2021, during his final days in office. President Joe Biden’s administration revoked the terrorism labels in February 2021 but reapplied the SDGT designation in January in response to the new pattern of Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Tim Lenderking, President Biden’s special envoy for Yemen, has indicated the administration’s decision to designate the Houthis as terrorists may be a transitory decision and that the current labels may eventually be withdrawn.
“My hope as the envoy for Yemen is that we can find diplomatic offramps to find ways to de-escalate and allow us to pull back eventually the designation and of course to end the military strikes on Houthis’ military capability,” Mr. Lenderking told reporters during a Wednesday press briefing.
Terror Label Meant to Sway Houthi Behavior: Envoy
When asked if the current SDGT label against the Houthis has helped deter their attacks, Mr. Lenderking said he believes the label has “put additional pressure” on the Houthi funding network. He said the administration is also looking to alter the behavior of the Houthis.
“It was our intent to put this additional pressure on the Houthis as a way of signaling our desire to move their behavior away from the focus on the Red Sea back toward the peace process,” Mr. Lenderking said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered similar remarks when announcing the decision to place the Houthis on the SDGT list in January.
“This designation seeks to promote accountability for the group’s terrorist activities,” Mr. Blinken said at the time. “If the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will reevaluate this designation.”
Despite the Biden administration’s application of an SDGT label and an ongoing campaign of U.S. airstrikes targeting Houthi weapons sites in Yemen, the rebel faction has continued to target ships in the Red Sea.
The cargo ship MV Rubymar sunk on March 2, after being crippled by a Feb. 18 Houthi missile strike and abandoned by its crew.
Three crew members aboard the cargo ship MV True Confidence were killed after a March 6 missile attack claimed by the Houthis.
No Specific Quid Pro Quo
Mr. Lenderking separately told Bloomberg News on Wednesday that the Biden administration is not, at this moment, communicating a specific quid pro quo arrangement whereby it will retract the Houthi terrorism label if the Yemeni faction stops its attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
“We would certainly study that but not assume it’s an automatic thing,” the special U.S. envoy for Yemen told the publication.
While Mr. Lenderking didn’t clearly communicate an offer to reverse the terror designation against the Houthis, he expressed optimism that the Yemeni rebel faction would discontinue their attacks and held the door open for their participation in the Yemeni peace process.
“The Houthis could have avoided global condemnation, including recently by the UN Security Council, by ceasing their illegal attacks. They can still de-escalate and return to the path of peace. But they have left the international community with no choice,” he said. “While there remains broad international support for an inclusive Yemeni-Yemeni peace process to find a lasting solution to the country’s conflict, successful negotiations are extremely difficult as long as the Houthis continue their aggressive actions.”
Mr. Lenderking said one specific step the Houthis could take to warm relations with the international community would be to release 25 sailors Yemeni gunmen captured in November when they used a helicopter to seize control of the cargo ship MV Galaxy Leader.
“This is a step that the Houthis could take to show good faith to the international community that they do have an intent to de-escalate, they do have a commitment to de-escalate,” he said. “Steps like these could generate a lot of goodwill, will be noticed and welcomed by the parties, and can be used to contribute to the peace process going forward.”